Sound card

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I recently formatted a Dell Dimension XPS T500 and everything is up and running except for the sound. In the control panel there’s no sound card listed under system devices, so I ran the “add new hardware” and it located the card and offered to install drivers, but can’t find any anywhere on either the computer, misc. boot disks, the Windows CD that came with it, or the Resource CD (driver files etc.) that came with it.

So I assume I have to download the drivers somewhere off the Internet, but the problem is that I don’t know what kind of sound card the computer has. It’s not listed in system devices until there are drivers. Is there any way to figure this out without opening it up and searching for the brand and serial number?

wow, this post is incoherent.

2

You can always look in the documentation that came with you computer, or go on Dell’s website and look there.

3

The computer is several years old and not on the web page, and I either can’t find it in the documentation or am missing whatever identifies it.

4

I had the same sort of problem only with my videocard… I had to open it up and take a looksee…

Belarc can tell you everything that’s on your computer. If it doesn’t tell what type of sound card you have then you’ll have to pop it open.

5

You can create an account on Dell’s support web site, log in, and type your computer’s service tag number (7 alphanumeric characters) in. Once it has your system you can click on the Original Configuration link (on the left) and it will tell you what your computer shipped with. Then you can click on the Downloads link and select the appropriate audio driver.

6

I found what I think are the correct drivers and installed them (Aureal Voyetra Turtle Beach), but after restarting, there’s no evidence that anything happened, other than a new folder in the start menu. There’s also a new icon by the system clock, but it gives an error message, “Can not load (file)” whenever I try to right click and run something. When I run sound tests, it says it’s already in use and can’t be tested.

7

How about the Dell Dimension XPS T_. This just might cover all the models in the category. Dell Link I hope the link works but if not just select XPS T.

8

Open the computer and take a look at the sound card (if there is one). you should come up with a name and a serial number. You can then look it up on internet for the drivers.
It’s not that difficult, and very interesting if you wanna know how a computer works, and then built/upgrade your own. This is when you begin to save $, when you buy OEM and buy the right sparepart for the right motherboard, etc.
All you need is a screwdriver, and something grounded to touch before you touch the computer guts.
have fun!